A screw conveyor comprising multiple screw sections is found in the blast cleaning industry, namely, to move blast cleaning shot, for example, in an abrasive reclamation system. The lengths of the screws or screw flights of the screw conveyor may be up to 25 feet. They are rotated relatively slowly by an electric motor. The screws or screw flights are coupled together at support and coupling assemblies that function to support and provide relatively low friction rotation of the screw conveyor. Thus, a support and coupling assembly needs to transfer rotational motion of one screw to the adjacent screw through an assembly which provides support and low friction and also protection against blast cleaning material from entry into the bearings where it could become detrimental to the proper functioning of the assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,012, (Volpe, 2002), incorporated herein by reference, discloses a particular type of support and coupling assembly for screw conveyor. The assembly disclosed addresses the shortcomings of prior art screw conveyors, including the difficulty in assembly and disassembly, and the breakdown caused by deflection at the end of the screws, where they are coupled through the support and coupling assembly to adjacent screws.
Applicant herein makes certain improvements to the Volpe support and coupling assembly, as set forth in more detail below. For convenience, Applicant has used three digit element numbers all beginning with the number “5”. In the Volpe patent, there are no element numbers that are three digit numbers beginning with the number “5”. Moreover, all of Applicant's figures are numbered with a combination of and a letter. All of the numbers of the figures in the Volpe reference do not have a letter associated with them. It is hoped that this helps the reader in understanding the structure and functions advantages of Applicant's invention.